A career criminal with 44 previous theft convictions has been jailed for 30 months after he broke into a house with a 10-year-old child inside.

Father-of-three Matthew Shortland, 37, from Yeovil , opportunistically entered the property in in Yeovil on May 14 this year to steal items to fund his drug addiction,

He stole a handbag and two bottles of wine from the home but was confronted by the girlfriend of the home owner as he made his escape through the garden.

He then brandished a hypodermic needle at her, leaving her in shock.

Shortland was jailed for 30 months

Shortland pleaded guilty to one charge of burglary and one count of possessing an offensive weapon and was jailed by Judge David Ticehurst for 30 months when he appeared at Taunton Crown Court on Thursday.

Shortland was initially due to be sentenced for the crimes on July 18, but he failed to appear, claiming that his father had suffered a heart attack and he didn’t want to leave his hospital bedside.

Sentencing him, Judge Ticehurst said: “You initially didn’t attend court for your sentence as your father had suffered a heart attack. No doubt this was partly influenced by your lifestyle as it cannot be easy being a father of a son who has committed as many offences as you have, as well as your drug addiction.

“You are a father yourself so how would you feel if a burglar entered a home that one of your three teenage children were living in? You would not like it at all and on this occasion you burgled a house that a 10-year-old was in.

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“I give you credit for your guilty plea, but as your lawyer has suggested, I don’t think the drug rehabilitation requirement is realistic for you and would not be appropriate.”

Prosecuting, Mr Gordon Richings told the court that Shortland had entered the property and had stolen items when the owner of the house saw him and shouted at him. Shortland ran out of the house and his girlfriend followed him into the garden, where she saw that he had dropped a handbag.

He said that she followed him to see if there was anything else that he had stolen, and found a bag with two bottles of wine inside it.